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Hillary Clinton in Portsmouth, N.H., where she became emotional when describing the toll of the campaign.
AP Photo

The negative attitude toward the press had greater implications than just hindering Hillary’s ability to show the warmer side of her personality. It affected, in the views of some, the way she staffed the entire campaign. Many of her top people had little or no real experience in presidential campaigning. (Patti Solis Doyle, the campaign manager; Mike Henry, the deputy campaign manger; and Howard Wolfson, the communications director, had never worked in a presidential campaign in any significant role. On the Obama campaign, David Plouffe, the campaign manager; David Axelrod, the chief strategist; Steve Hildebrand, the deputy campaign manager; Jeff Berman, the national director of delegate operations; and Robert Gibbs, the communications director, all had significant presidential campaign experience.)

In a Washington Post article in late July of this year by Lois Romano, a source close to Hillary quotes Hillary as saying she was “disappointed” in Solis Doyle (who was replaced as campaign manager in February 2008). “I put her in a job she was incapable of performing,” Clinton is quoted as saying. “I’m out here killing myself … thinking a process exists, and no one said, ‘The emperor has no clothes.’”

Which begs the question: Why did Clinton, who had known and employed Solis Doyle in top jobs for years, give her the campaign manager job in the first place? Why, in fact, did a smart political operative like Hillary Clinton put together such a poorly functioning campaign staff?

“Loyalty,” Wolfson said, “was very important to her.”

People were hired by Clinton because of their absolute loyalty to her. And Clinton was, in fact, told the emperor had no clothes. She was repeatedly told by staff members that there were grave problems in her campaign. Three key Clinton staffers in three separate interviews told me they had informed Hillary Clinton directly that the campaign was having serious problems and was not being managed well.

A top aide to Clinton told me: “I was walking her back to her office in [the Russell Senate Office Building] from the Capitol, and we were crossing Constitution Avenue and I just said to her: ‘You have a staff both here and in the campaign that don’t feel empowered, and we have lost our edge and aggression and live in fear of screwing up.’ She was furious. It was the most tense conversation I’ve had with her. ‘This is not what I wanted,’ she said.”

The aide continued: “She was extremely upset. And the first thing she did was call Patti and say, ‘Fix it.’ Patti called my boss and said I should ‘shut the fuck up.’ That is verbatim. The staff loved me for it when word got around. But Patti’s way of fixing things was to tell the whistle-blower to shut the f--- up.”

Actually, however, it was Hillary who blew the whistle on the whistle-blower, as she would do repeatedly.

A top Hillary strategist told me: “The one time I complained [directly to Hillary], I got told by Patti, ‘Don’t ever go to her again about [these] issues.’”

Another Hillary staffer said: “I did have a conversation with Hillary by e-mail about things not getting done.” Hillary asked him some questions, but word soon came down the pipeline for him to shut up. “It was not appreciated that I was e-mailing her,” he said.

Solis Doyle was very protective of Hillary, but she was also very protective of herself. Terry McAuliffe, Hillary’s campaign chairman, had advised against hiring Solis Doyle. Bill Clinton, according to a source close to both Bill and Hillary, also advised against it and wanted Hillary to hire Paul Begala, one of Bill’s 1992 campaign aides, for the job.

But, with certain exceptions — like Penn, who had worked for Bill in the past — Hillary wanted to stay away from hiring the Friends of Bill (until the campaign got in trouble and then she had reached out to a few of them). “She had an inexperienced staff, but the concern was that she had to run as her own person and not as Bill Clinton’s third term,” an aide who worked for both Hillary and Bill said. “She felt his operation and culture didn’t fit her. As first lady and in her Senate office, she had a very female-centric, matriarchal environment. He is more freewheeling and less structured.”

Those of us who know and support our senator know that this was purely driven by the media. Hillary should be our nominee and in 2012 she will. She is a proven leader and someone who can not just reach across the isle but someone who can actually work with people she does not exactly like to work in the best interest of this country. It is time we stopped championing the party and start championing the country. Vote what is best for the country not the party. The thought of liberal wing of the democratic party controlling the house, senate and presidency is just too much for this centrist to take. With the of Obama's election campaign how big do you think his government is going to be! Sorry but I would rather keep those tax dollars thank you. This democrat is voting for McCain in 2008!

Videos / Barack Obama says will NOT run for President 2008 election because he lacks experience

Barack Obama says will NOT run for President 2008 election because he lacks experience

>http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nj...

Actual news footage of Barack Obama stating he will NOT run for national office in 2008 because HE LACKS EXPERIENCE... he hasn't even completed 1 term as an Illinois Senator. But now he has decided (and is trying to convince America) that he is qualified to be "king of the world" (President of the world's leading superpower nation).

The thought of liberal wing of the democratic party controlling the house, senate and presidency is just too much for this centrist to take. With the of Obama's election campaign how big do you think his government is going to be!

The GOP effectively controlled all three branches of government from 2000 through 2006, and since then has been obstructing the Democratic agenda in Congress as a unified minority.

A Democratic president needs a working majority in both houses to get this country moving in a positive direction again, and begin correcting the mistakes and misrule of the past eight years.

You will see that Democratic presidents have been more responsible stewards of the public's money, and overseen greater job growth and economic growth, lower inflation, and a lower rate of growth in federal spending.

The only balanced federal budgets in the past half-century have been signed by Democratic presidents, JFK once and Bill Clinton four times.

The days when the GOP could honestly claim to be fiscally responsible are long gone. The GOP is now the borrow-and-spend party, having added $12.3 trillion to the national debt since Nixon. That is, in reality, a transfer of wealth from working Americans to those who need it the least.

Patti Solis Doyle excuses herself fron Hillaryland, yet she was the Oracle of Hillaryland. She had so much to do with its functioning!

I remember that Hillary and her supporters were not well treated in the various interviews and appearances on MSNBC and some of the other news programs. Although I am not a Democrat, I didn't like to see Hillary and her supporters treated like b!tches and dimwits by the real dimwits, Olbermann and Matthews, to mention just two news people. Hillary deserved much, much better than that.

I do think there is a good amount of sexism at play against Hillary. What other Presidential candidate is tied to the word 'b!tch'? It's unfair. If she had based her campaign on hope and change, she would have been downgraded for girlishness. She took pragmatic positions, and she was attacked for them (by liberals, of course!).